Oh no, not a minivan!

The Soccer Mom minivan

I swore I'd never have another minivan. I drove these vehicles for years when the kids were little and even I had to admit they were perfect for hauling around the girls and their friends.

Once the kids were grown up and out of the house with no more soccer games or sleepovers, I traded the minivan for a sleek black Volkswagen Passat, a cool-looking car that had so much pep I

A cool-looking car

ended up with 2 speeding tickets in 2 days (the last one in Iowa with my mom sitting bemusedly beside me wondering what that nice young man could possibly be doing).  The car was great, but was plagued with so many problems, not the least of which was it always looked dirty, that after a few years I traded it in.

I still loved Passats, but this time I was smarter about color choices, opting for a light blue station wagon. This turned out to be perfect, with a storage area big enough to haul my (disassembled) scooter and a left-foot accelerator so that I was able to drive, even though my right leg has become pretty useless.

So why would I want to get rid of this sporty little car? Well, first off, my balance has gotten so bad that I'm scared I'll fall each time I get up from the driver's seat to get my rollator out of the back. The picture I imagine of me sprawled in the middle of the Shop and Save parking lot is not a pretty one.

In addition, having a van would allow me to take a scooter in my vehicle without taking it apart. There's a wonderful animation here showing how it works. If I needed to go shopping, I'd simply ride my scooter to my van, hit the remote and voila the side door would open, then the ramp would fold down as the van "kneels" to get even lower to the ground.  After riding up the ramp, parking my scooter and transferring to the driver's seat, I would hit the remote again, folding up the ramp and closing the door.  Amazing -- yes -- but amazement with a pretty hefty price tag.

My freedom!

Unfortunately, a handicap conversion costs about $20,000 on top of the price of a vehicle, and sadly, only minivans and full-size vans can be converted.  For a long time I rejected the notion that after we shucked out over $30,000 all we'd have was a minivan. But in the end, I decided it was worth it.

Yes it's hard to make a change, but I'm optimistic that a van will make a huge difference in my independence and quality of life. I'm fortunate to live technological advances that make a disabled person's life easier. We pick out the van next Saturday and I can hardly wait!